.

Introduction

The act of building has become much more intense nowadays not only because of phenomena
related to the accelerated urbanization of cities, but also in order to meet a pressing need, that of
the building of basic infrastructure by public authorities or private partners, for the benefit of the
population. In developing countries (DCs), there is a strong need for quality works. The real
estate sector, for example, is characterized by a remarkable imbalance compared to the current
pace of housing production. We are witnessing a development of “self-construction” in the
construction of individual houses, and even other public infrastructures. This sector is the one
that can be described as informal or semi-informal construction. In some countries, these sectors
contribute about 90% of the production of habitat [1] . In accordance with this growth, many
technical problems arise in the field of construction. Many technical deficiencies are noted,
especially in the formulation of concrete. It is noted that nearly six (6) billions cubic meters of
concrete per year are produced worldwide, since the resources needed for its manufacture exist
in many countries and in large quantities. Also, this justifies the fact that this manufactured
material is the most used in the world [2] . If the formulation of a concrete can be understood as
the process of selection of constituents (aggregates, cement, additives) and their proportions
optimal to manufacture a complex possessing certain required properties (consistency, resistance,
durability...), it is nonetheless true to note that this is still done for the most part empirically,
whereas there are more rational scientists [3] . Also, in these sectors of construction where self-
construction predominates, the quality assurance of the works is not often appropriate, due to the
lack of control of the appropriate technology for the realization of the works. Indeed, the reality
is that in developing countries (DCs), the formulation of common concrete is subject to many
hazards to the point where the durability of the structures made of concrete suggests a doubt in
the consistency of the work. Thus, we observe the appearance of cracks and many disorders in
the structures made from the first moments of exploitation thereof. Of course, concrete is a
mixture the composition of which has an influence on its mechanical characteristics. But if they
are less critical, the development of a suitable concrete may then be unreliable. This measures
the importance of the study on the formulation of concrete, all the more necessary as the required
characteristics are demanding.

The new construction techniques require a maximum reliability of the structure vis-à-vis the
natural hazards such as natural disasters, dynamic solicitations or others. On the other hand, in
addition to the ultimate compressive strength, these concretes must meet many specifications
relating to rheological properties, early age characteristics, deformation properties and durability
aspects [4] [5] et [6] . However, Packa’s (2015) surveys in the Republic of Congo of concrete
formulation methods in some Congo cities, namely Brazzaville, Ouesso and Pointe-Noire, have
shown that the companies identified for this survey make greater use of the process. From the
capacity of the wheelbarrow (50 to 60 liters) and the weight of the cement bag (50 kg), this
empirical process is called a wheelbarrow “BS”. However, these professionals hardly use the
known classical and scientific methods (Faury, Vallette, Bolomey, Dreux-Gorisse...). Indeed, this
survey reveals that 66% of professionals in these sectors in Brazzaville use the “BS” process,
85% in Pointe-Noire and 100% in the city of Ouesso in the northern part of the Congo [7] .

On the other hand, from the point of view of concrete reliability, the studies carried out by
Castaldo et al. (2018) on the evaluation of the partial safety factor related to the uncertainties of
the overall strength model of reinforced concrete structures, showed evidence of a plastic
behavior of the concrete in traction which leads to a very high coefficient of variation. The
influence of numerical model uncertainty in describing the behavior of reinforced concrete
elements was highlighted. Thus, the safety factor must be greater than one (01), this to avoid any
early structural failure with physico-mechanical quality of strongly supported material [8] .

Similarly, in the requirement for quality concrete, the influence of uncertainties related to
materials and resistance models in the reliability-based calibration of resistance models makes
reference to the design formulation of the supporting structures which must be compotated at
both the service limit state and the ultimate limit state [9] . Moreover, reinforced concrete
structures are also often attacked by degradation or aging effects when they are implanted in an
aggressive environment; their durability is thus put into question. Indeed, through the Castaldo
approach (2018), we can make predictability in the structural design by making the structure less
vulnerable to the concrete degradation process, if at least the absolute tightness of the material
can be obtained because of its porous nature. However, in such an environment, such as saline or
sulphate media, the durability induced by the transfer properties of the material, takes on an
obvious character; it can lead to premature degradation of the material (concrete) resulting in the
correction of steels and the leaching of concrete [10] [11] [12] [13] .

Therefore, this work proposes to carry out a study on the concrete formulation with technical
constraint, to obtain an estimated compressive strength between 20 and 30 MPa, to use in the
informal and semi-informal sectors of the construction, with the materials collected locally in the
region of Brazzaville. It is therefore to propose different formulations by combining various
materials from several quarries or the Congo River.